Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
Steve Livingston, Sr. Vice President of Carrier Development
Last week I participated in a panel at the WBA Wi-Fi Global Congress in Seoul, Korea. Other panel members included representatives from Accuris Networks, AT&T, Oi WiFi, and Strategy Analytics. We discussed how to maximize international data roaming revenue and coverage through Wi-Fi. I found the dialogue fascinating, particularly due to my familiarity with this topic; iPass specializes in providing this opportunity to mobile operators through our Open Mobile Exchange (OMX).
The global mobile computing market that the panel members work in is experiencing a period of significant change. With subscriber penetration at 100% or above in the developed world, mobile operators must target not only subscribers, but their multiple devices. The average traveler today carries 2.8 devices, and consumes increasing amounts of data due not only to the number of devices, but new apps coming to market daily. A carrier with a proposition to connect all devices, including Wi-Fi only devices, will provide valuable services that the consumer craves, and at a more affordable price. Consequently, large carriers are putting together compelling offers and propositions which will result in 2012 being the year that Wi-Fi roaming for the consumer will begin in a meaningful way.
The real jewel for a mobile operator offering an international Wi-Fi roaming proposition is to provide domestic customers with a proposition that their competitors do not offer. By differentiating with this capability, carriers are able to address the high value customers, the most critical to retain and attract. Bundling these domestic services in the right way delivers higher ARPU (average revenue per customer) and customer loyalty.
One European carrier forecasts that for every subscriber they have today in their entire base, by adding an International Wi-Fi roaming proposition they will recognize €9/subscriber per year. Extrapolating, a carrier with 10 million subscribers could potentially increase revenue by €90 million per year, a substantial amount for any company. Why wouldn’t a mobile operators take advantage of this lucrative business model?
WBA Panel: Using Wi-Fi to Maximize Coverage and Revenue >>
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012
Annie Livingston, Marketing
As all of us consume mobile data, the interest in use of public Wi-Fi to help has taken on greater urgency. WBA’s Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) initiative is giving us and many other major operators and vendors, a chance to test innovative new login procedures and simpler connectivity that will help simplify login and support roaming agreements as well as establish relationships with each other so you can have a much wider variety of hotspots available.
The trials we are participating in allow us to test a variety of authentication methods for the growing number of smartphones, as well as SIM-based, for tablets, laptops and legacy phones which cannot support SIM authentication. An end result will be that as many of our customers as possible will have automatic access to hotspots without entering usernames and passwords.
With the latest prediction of a rise from 1.3 million hotspots in 2011 to 5.8 million by 2015, not including “community hotspots” which add another 4.5 million worldwide, the WBA trials and our future deployments of NGH are an exciting opportunity for us.
For more info >>
WBA Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) Initiative Phase 2 Trials >>
Monday, June 25th, 2012
Steve Livingston, Sr. Vice President of Carrier Development
GSMA member operators meeting this week committed to making mobile data roaming charges easier to understand and more transparent, in an effort to calm the waters with subscribers experiencing bill shock after travel. The twenty-four operators signing on the plan represent over 400 million subscribers worldwide.
These mobile operators are taking a big step forward by making data roaming charges easier to understand as well as setting up protection from accidentally running high mobile data bills, but the consumer is still being put on a diet when traveling abroad. Consumers are growing more dependent on their digital and connected lives and want to access the same applications and content when they travel as when they are at home. Increasingly, subscribers have become so dependent on this connection that access has migrated from a desire to a necessity, for both business and personal reasons.
There will be some carrier disrupters that will provide the consumer with this obvious benefit, and those carriers will quickly reap the benefits from these high valued customers as well as their families. A further step that will distinguish these operators from their competitors is taking advantage of services such as iPass Open Mobile Exchange. Tapping into rapidly growing global Wi-Fi availability will allow carriers to support their subscribers more cost-effectively for data hungry applications, benefiting both the consumer and the operator.
Bill Shock Complaints Push Operators into Action >>
Friday, June 15th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
With the majority of smartphones and tablet devices now capable of connecting to Wifi networks for data transmission, Steve Livingston, SVP of carrier development at iPass told Capacity Magazine that he anticipates a clash between fixed and mobile operators with Wi-Fi as a complementary technology for both.
In the article, iPass predicts clash of fixed and mobile operators, Steve insisted that carriers should see Wifi as a complementary rather than competitive technology. He said that the company was witnessing much larger scale Wifi deployments than ever before, with significant interest from Asia and the Middle East.
Read more >>
Capacity Magazine: iPass on clash of fixed and mobile operators >>
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
On the week commencing the 25th June, the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) will be co-hosting the Wi-Fi Global Congress in Seoul with Korea Telecom and Avren Events. This event is set to bring together industry leaders from all parts of the Wi-Fi ecosystem to discuss current hot topics, future Wi-Fi developments and emerging strategies, notably Wi-Fi Roaming and Next Generation Hotspot (NGH), as well as monetising Wi-Fi and data offload.
Open to members and non-members, the WBA Wi-Fi Global Congress is the 21st WBA Roundtable and is set to be the biggest yet.
Day One will showcase key Wi-Fi discussions initiated by a panel consisting of China Mobile, AT&T and Fon, discussing the cost benefits of Wi-Fi and how operators are integrating this into their networks. This will be followed by a keynote from Ericsson Wi-Fi’s CTO Stephen Rayment on ‘Carrier-grade Wi-Fi in the hetnet environment’ and a presentation by China Telecom’s Deputy Managing Director Mr.Zeng Hongjian on case studies from the operator’s Wi-Fi deployment strategy.
WBA Program Director Tiago Rodrigues will discuss the current hot topic of eNext Generation Hotspots’ and how they look set to significantly improve user experience. He will be joined by the Wi-Fi Alliance and GSMA. From a vendor perspective, Jared Headley, Cisco’s Director of Service provider Mobility will address the important topic of Next Generation Hotspot Monetization.
Day Two has Google’s Andrew Warner opening up proceedings bypresenting its experience with Wi-Fi in emerging markets which will be followed by a panel discussion on maximizing international data roaming revenue and coverage through Wi-Fi involving AT&T, Aircel ltd, Accuris Networks and iPass. Selina Lo, CEO of Ruckus Wireless, will deliver a keynote on how Wi-Fi is assisting mobile operator migration to small cells and CCW’s Alex Kun will resent how to design and deploy a Carrier Grade Wi-Fi Network.
Cedric Gonin, Orange’s Head of Wi-Fi and the WBA Co-chair will wrap up member presentations by discussing what the future holds for Wi-Fi. The day will conclude with a Wi-Fi Alliance Seminar offering a technical overview of the new Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint certification program and an in-depth look in to the Next Generation Wi-Fi Network.
For more information, follow the link at www.wifiglobalcongress.com
WBA’s Wi-Fi Global Congress features industry leaders >>
